My original plan was to disassemble this machine and move it piece by piece down the stairs. However, on it's arrival 5 months after I ordered it, it became clear that was not going to work, especially as Skyfire had unexpectedly added a cast iron base that I didn't ask or pay for. After a couple days of heard scratching, I decided that the only way was going to be bringing it through the wall directly into the workshop.
Several variations of how to lower the machine into the hole were considered, including using a crane, making a ramp down, etc., but in the end I settled on using cribbing.
One minor setback was the discovery that our lawn was much softer than expected, which posed some major difficulties for the forklift. Laying down plywood took care of that though.
The tools used to remove the cribbing were my little brother and a Harbor Freight hydraulic flange spreader, which, considering that it was operating pretty much at or over its capacity did a great job.
My family has already affectionately nicknamed the machine "Mary Ann" in reference to the children's book "Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel" because the house is practically built around it now))
